Hikari
by Kianang
Summary: Once upon a time there was a girl and a book. And the girl enters the book, much to her mother's dismay. (Chapter 2 now up.)
1. Prologue

****

Disclaimer: You know, if I owned this, I wouldn't be putting this here, would I?

****

Author's Notes: This is the obvious prologue to the next stage in the Fushigi Yuugi franchise. I'm _almost_ tempted to make this a prologue to a chapter fic, but I don't know how well my conscience would be able to handle my doing the overdone topic of New Miko, the obvious New Miko = Hikari connection, and what is at danger of being a Mary Sue all at once. I started writing the first chapter then I was like "but wait!" and went through the list I just listed and slapped myself.

****

Hikari

Open. Close. Open. Close.

Nothing happened.

The binding creaked slightly. A few pages rustled softly. That was it.

Maybe if she tried tipping it upside down?

She flipped the book upside down and shook. Nothing happened. No magical people fell out, no magic bird, no magic dragon, nothing.

But Mama couldn't be lying. Mama never lied. Mama told her such stories about the Book, and they just had to be true. They just had to be true. That was how she met Papa, with this book! It seemed like a fairy tale place, full of true love and wonder! She even saw a photo of the place, it had Mama and Papa and six other smiling people! It looked so happy.

But nothing happened when she opened the book.

Open. Close. Open. Close.

Nothing at all.

She felt arms wrap around her from behind. Mama?

"No, no, baby... don't play with this..." Hikari found herself being lifted from behind by the waist as Mama took the book from her and set it on a high shelf with her free hand. "You shouldn't play with the Book," Mama chided, setting her on her hip, "you never know what may happen."

Hikari looked up at her mother with large, sad eyes. Her lips formed into a perfect pout. "But I wanna go into the Book..."

"Not now," Mama murmured, burying her face in Hikari's auburn hair, "not ever..."


	2. Turn the Page

****

Disclaimer: Me broke. Me no have money. Thus, me no have Fushigi Yuugi.

****

Author's Notes: I was originally dead set on NOT continuing this, but eh, what the hell. I have time to kill. This is not quality writing by any stretch of the… words. I decided to make the leads a bit younger than is traditional to try to prevent the Curse of the Mary Sue, but I had issues with writing them. Oh, and the lack of tension in the closet is attributed to the younger age. I'm sure there's tons of plot holes. I also would like to apologize for the, um, repetitiveness and ugliness of the prose. Oh yeaaah, and lots of f-bombs, too. And some, um, beating. Oh, and the SARS, um, parallel (that should become more apparent later on) was not noticed until this was already written, so please don't smack me. And the characterization isn't the greatest, I know. And yes, I know Aki's name is the most redundant thing ever. I resigned myself to using "Mr." and "Mrs." for Taka and Miaka because having two Sukunami-sans would just right out confuse me. Later I'll have them be referred to as Taka-san and Miaka-san, so, well, so much for consistency. Oh, and I realize how many clichés there are in this, starting with the chapter title. _;

****

Reviewers: 

KittyLynne - You gave me the idea to make the lead younger than the normal 15-17 range, which helped muchly. ^_^

shadow priestess - It's short because it was intended as a one-shot, but I guess not anymore, hah? ^^;

Melokitty - Again, it was intended as a one-shot... but, ee, I'm not even sure where I'm going with this. -_-;

Aah, thanks for the compliments. They make me feel silly, I'm not used to them. ^^;

****

Chapter 1

Turn the Page

The air was dark and musty, every breath layered and coated with a generous serving of dust. Yamada Jun coughed and scrunched into a corner of the closet, shoving aside a few shoeboxes of photographs to sit down. He leaned against a puffy winter coat while a trench coat over his head half buried him. He drew the coat aside to watch Hikari as she leaned out the closet door, peeking both ways down the hall, before pulling it shut with a click. The closet went dark and he could hear her fiddling with the lock, which answered with another soft click, and soon the lights went on, slightly muffled by the coats and boxes overhead.

Jun wrinkled his nose at Hikari as she knelt across from him, "It smells like mothballs. Why do we have to hide in here anyway?"

Hikari grinned at him and pulled an old red book from under her shirt. "Mama wouldn't like us reading this," she giggled, "but we're going to do it anyway."

"We are?" Jun arched an eyebrow at Hikari. "Your mom is scary."

"That's why we're in the closet."

"Ok," he murmured uncertainly. Mrs. Sukunami could have quite a temper when she wanted to, and he certainly did not want to cross it. "What is that?" He asked, leaning over the book.

"Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho," Hikari said proudly, enunciating each syllable clearly as she ran her finger along side each character.

Jun pushed his glasses up his nose. "That's... 'the Book?'"

"Um, yeah..."

"I always thought the Book was an RPG."

"You what?!"

"Nothing wrong with those, umm, my mom met my dad in one!" Jun ran his fingers through his dark blonde hair nervously. "How... uh... did your parents meet with this? Book club?"

"Jun no baka!"

"What?"

"That's what we're going to find out... and **you're** going to help me!" Hikari thrust the book into Jun's lap with a smirk.

"Wha...?"

"You're smart! You can read this!"

"Yeah, but..." Jun stared at Hikari in terror. He was not going to get tangled up in another one of her little schemes. Not this time. Last time she nearly had him arrested, for God's sake! Sure, reading a forbidden book with her was a tad bit safer than shoplifting a birthday present, but not by much, especially when Mrs. Sukunami was concerned! She may have been a bubble head, but she sure was tough!

"But...?" Hikari's turquoise eyes glinted dangerously.

"B-but, eh, ahh... I need to be getting home for dinner soon! And, ahh, um, I-I --" Jun nearly swallowed his tongue at the venomous look Hikari shot him, "I, ah, ah, think we should start reading right now, shall we!"

Hikari gave him a toothy grin. "Good boy! Oh, and... we just had lunch, why would you want dinner so soon?" She winked at him.

"I, um, ah... hungry?" That earned him a prompt smack on the head. "Um, what do you want me to read?"

"All of it."

"All... of... it?" She had to be kidding! Jun measured the book's thickness between his thumb and forefinger. This was a long book!

"It's supposed to be a story about how my Mama met Papa, but it's in Chinese. I can't read it."

Jun sighed and flipped the book open. "You brought me here for some dumb love story?" At the sound of a growl from Hikari he yelped, nearly swallowed his tongue again, and looked down at the page. 

Blank.

He turned the page.

Blank.

He turned _another_ page.

Blank.

"Well?" Hikari asked eagerly, rocking on her toes.

"All the pages are blank. Nothing on them." Jun would have made a sarcastic comment, but did not feel like testing Hikari's temper. Again.

"WHAT?"

The book abruptly left his hands as Hikari began flipping through it, opening to random pages, beginning to hyperventilate. "No text, no text!"

Jun decided to tempt fate. "What kind of a joke is this?"

"Shut up!" Hikari shouted as she threw the book at him. Jun ducked and caught the book once it hit the wall.

"Ok, ok..." Jun opened the book again. And there was writing. "Look, look!" He pointed.

"The spell!" Hikari squealed and clapped eagerly.

"Don't be so loud, your mother might hear us!"

"Ok, ok..." She took several deep breaths to regain her composure. "Read it to me and have me repeat it."

"Read... it?"

Hikari rocked on her toes hyperly. "Come on, come on!"

"Alright... 'And so... the girl of... legend? Um... opened the door... of another world.'"

"And so the girl of legend opened the door of another world," Hikari repeated softly.

"'This is the story of a girl who gathered the Seven Seishi of... Suzaku.'" Jun read as Hikari murmured her repetition softly after him. "'She... obtained great power, and made every wish come true. The story itself is a... spell. Whoever finishes reading it will receive this power. As soon as the first page is turned, the story will become real and begin...'"

Silence.

"Juuuun, you messed it up! Nothing happened!"

"You didn't tell me to turn the page!"

"Ooh, give me that, you can't do anything right, can you?!" Hikari snatched the book from Jun's grasp and quickly turned the page.

And she suddenly realized that that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. 

A gust of wind issued forth from the open book, whipping Hikari's deep auburn hair away from her face ferociously. The book shook and moaned, pages rippling and turning in the supernatural wind. Brilliant blood red light began to shine from the book as the pages stopped turning, nearly blinding Hikari. She screamed and held her arms up over her eyes to block out the light. Jun shielded his eyes with one arm and instinctively tried to reach out for Hikari with the other, but when he grasped at where she should have been he found nothing. The book glowed softly red, flickered, and then died out.

And so he stared at the book. Would it eat him up too?

Jun would have stared at the book forever if it wasn't for the loud knock on the closet door.

---

Faint gold fragments of sun glittered in through the open window in the Li dwelling as the family sat down for breakfast. For once a heavy cloud of doom did not hang over their table, or house, or village, for that matter. The planting was coming along splendidly, and the plague seemed to be going into remission. In the past week there had been no new victims, and what few there were seemed to be healing. For once all their prayers had been put to good use, and, as an added bonus, there was fresh rice and fish on the table.

Yes, it looked like it was going to be a very good day.

Until their rafters glowed crimson and a girl, dressed in the most peculiar clothing imaginable, fell out of the ceiling and onto their table.

So, naturally, all hell broke loose.

And somehow, during all the screaming and panicking, the wife managed to hit the mysterious girl (and not her husband or any of her sons) with a pan, knocking her out.

And, to be quite frank, it did not look like the Li family would be having a very pleasant day.

The girl, it turned out, was some sort of demon, at least according to the village elder. He brooded over her still, bound form and pronounced her to a malignant cestule of existence, the cause of the village's plague. So, after sealing her for the time being, he sent out a messenger to search for a demon hunter from Eiyou to collect her.

And that was how Aki, the eldest of the poor, poor Li boys came to be among the three men guarding the demon as she slept, bound to a tree. It had not been his will to do so, but, after all, what business had he to protest? He was strong and able bodied. He was young, nimble, and quick, and one of the few young men who was not currently incapacitated with the plague! And, after all, would he be disgraceful enough to have one such as the esteemed village elder guard the girl? Of course not!

So soon the poor Aki was standing terrifyingly close to the demon, armed only with a spear and some prayers, which he muttered to the point of hysteria. 

It was in the middle of one such frantic prayer when the redheaded demon woke up.

---

Hikari almost thought she was dreaming. Her eyes were closed, was she asleep? No, she couldn't be... her head did not throb so much while asleep. She could hear birds chirping softly, each minute sound sending terrible shockwaves through her skull. The soft breezes rustled through grass (much to her distress) and kissed her face with a sweet caress. Slowly she became aware of tight ropes going across her chest and legs, digging into her skin and cutting off her circulation, causing her feet to tingle slightly. She tried futilely to pull against her bonds, but the shock of the ropes further burying themselves caused her brain to vibrate and quiver painfully.

But still, maybe it was a dream, albeit a realistic one, complete with painful ropes and splitting headaches.

Frantic muttering, which at first had escaped her hearing in favor of birdsongs, now entered her brain little by little. And it did not help her migraine one bit. She began to whimper softly in pain, at which point the muttering stopped, before restarting much faster and far more frantic.

Bright sunlight blinded her when she opened her eyes, but after squinting she was able to make out the source of the muttering - a boy older than herself trembling, clutching a spear as if his life depended on it. As she made eye contact with him his muttering increased into a frantic chant. He took a step back, trembling.

She shut her eyes. Her head felt like it was going to explode, and the chants weren't really helping. "Please... stop..." She whispered, a few tears escaping her eyes.

The chanting did stop, but what came next was far worse - a brutal kick to the leg. She cried out in pain, but whoever had kicked her only laughed.

When she finally managed to look up at her assailant she met the gaze of a crazed young man, his chestnut hair pulled up in a bun. He laughed at her coldly. "I can't wait until the Demon Catcher gets here." He kicked her again, chuckling. 

"Kazuo, n-no, she might..." The pale boy who had been praying tried to grab his arm, but the crazed one shook him off.

"I can't wait until I can see you scream like my fiancée once did." He chuckled and kicked her again. "I want you to scream and suffer when you die, just like her," he growled.

"Kazuo, she might kill more of us..."

"Aki, shut the fuck up. Can't you see? We have her. She can't hurt us!" Kazuo laughed and fingered the crystals around Hikari's neck. "With this on she can't hurt us," he slapped her, "can you, little girl?" Hikari choked back sobs as Kazuo held her head to the side by the chin, inspecting his handiwork. "See, Aki? She can't do anything. Not a single damn thing."

Aki had retreated and stood clutching his spear, staring at the ground. "I-I see."

Kazuo laughed and tightened his grip on Hikari's chin. "You know, maybe I should take this chance to show you just how my dear Yasu felt when you touched her," he growled, slowly lowering his grip to her throat. "She told me you touched her here," he tapped her tender flesh with one finger, "and you held on tight, and didn't let go..."

"Kazuo, save that work for the Demon Catcher."

With that he released the petrified Hikari, groaning impatiently.

The source of the voice was a third guard, who was leaning on his spear as though asleep. "I understand how you feel, we have all lost loved ones to her, but you can't risk killing her... she may simply possess someone else. Let the Demon Catcher handle it."

Kazuo stepped back, but did not break his cold glare. "Someday I'll make you scream," he told the crying Hikari, "and you'll know exactly what she felt when she died."

It was then that a voice called out from the tree. "What's this? My God, she's only a child. You people disgust me."

All three guards peered up into the tree. Aki and Kazuo both began to tremble, one from fear, one from anger.

"Since when is it any of your fucking business what we do with demons?!" Kazuo bellowed.

"Honestly, Kazuo... she's younger than your own sister," the voice spat as its owner dropped from the tree, landing between Kazuo and Hikari, nimble as a cat. It was a boy, maybe a year younger than Kazuo. He sighed as he shook some leaves out of his raven hair with a ghostly pale hand. 

"What the fucking hell do you know about my sister, you demon?" Kazuo, again, shook with anger, while Aki shook from fear, clinging to his spear as though it would be the only thing that would hold him up. The third guard tried to get the visitor with his spear, but found it soon broken, and found himself soon punched out.

The visitor tsked and easily dodged a punch from Kazuo (who obviously had forgotten that he had access to a spear, which would have enabled him to possibly skewer his opponent). "You really should be ashamed of yourself," he scolded, taking up a fighting stance.

Aki, meanwhile, continued to tremble, growing paler by the minute.

---

Yamada Jun was trembling as well, and from a nearly different reason. The banging on the closet door, as it turned out, was a very angry Taka, who did not enjoy hearing his daughter scream. "Hikari, what's going on in there?!"

After some hard contemplation (weighing the prospect of staying locked in the closet and starving to death against being beaten to death by Taka), Jun cautiously cracked open the door. Might as well get it over with.

As soon as the door was open Taka had him by the collar. He hauled the poor boy out and began to shake him rather violently. Behind him Hikari's mother stood, looking rather shaken.

"Where the hell is Hikari?!"

Jun stared at Taka wide eyed and stuttered gibberish.

And then Taka saw the red book that Jun had dropped on the floor. He stared at the book and suddenly released Jun. "She didn't..."

Jun backed up into a wall, pale as a sheet. "S-she... vanish... book... v-vanish..."

Hikari's mother swayed on her feet. "She... vanished?" was all she could manage before fainting with a thud.

---

****

The Son of the Author's Notes: This is going to have a ton of reincarnations in it. Yay for clichés! I'm probably going to completely disregard Eikoden (hisss), despite taking Miaka and Taka's daughter's name from it. So, I have a question. Should Kazuo be a reincarnation of anyone at all, or just someone completely new?


	3. A Beautiful Dream

****

Author's Notes: Some of this is from right after I wrote chapter 1, some is from just recently... watch for rapid changes in style. Also, watch for lapses in POV. And... lots and lots of crap. Me = bad. Lots shorter than the previous chapter, and I don't know if it accomplishes much at all. I just felt that were I stopped was an appropriate place for me to cut off, and I'm tired. I hadn't written this in ages because I had writer's block, and felt like the premise was trite and overdone. But after seeing a burst in some, um, "interesting" Hikari/reincarnation-centered fics I decided to continue to save face because, um, I had this dumb idea that maybe mine wouldn't be, errrr, bad. And then I got some comments about this. Also, I lost my old notes, so I'm winging this from what I remember intending to do. And my vocabulary in this is pitiful. I am terribly sorry.

****

Disclaimer: I don't own FY. If you wanna sue someone sue a good fic writer, not me. Me = not worth your sueage. And if the poor quality of my prose makes you want to hurt yourself, um, it was not my fault. Do not read if you value the English language. ;)

****

Chapter 2

A Beautiful Dream

The pale visitor, as it turned out, did not need to prepare to fight at all. Kazuo was a pitiful fighter, blinded by rage. His punches were reckless, his kicks even worse. Throughout the entire fight, which lasted less than a minute, Kazuo hit the visitor only once, which caused him to cry out in angry victory. The visitor, however, was painfully elusive to him, his limbs slowly degenerating to a trembling mess of fury. All it took was a good knee to the gut and a well-placed punch to put him out of commission.

And then the visitor turned his attention to Aki, who, truth be told, was having an absolutely terrible day. Aki leaned heavily on his spear, shaking violently, his trembling voice stumbling over frantic chants. He felt his knees begin to quake as the visitor took a step towards him. With uncertain steps Aki stumbled backwards, beginning to hyperventilate.

The visitor cocked his head at him quizzically. "Are you... okay?" He reached out a hand to him.

That hand was all that was needed to send poor, poor Li Aki into a dead faint.

.

Hikari leaned away from the boy when he came near her, knife in hand. Sniffling, she tried desperately to harden her face, which did not really work. As he advanced her eyes grew wide and her skin pale, until he began cutting away at her ropes with the knife.

"You ok? They didn't do... anything... to you, did they?" he asked softly, pulling on the ropes to loosen them.

"I... nn... eh... I..." she stammered incomprehensibly, before shaking her head no.

"They're gone..." he murmured, moving one rope aside to check her wrist for bruises.

Hikari made a soft sobbing noise as he touched a raw spot.

"Sorry." He gently eased the rope off the bruised hand.

When he had finished removing the ropes Hikari quivered, leaning against the tree at first, before falling forward on to him, heavy with tears. He cried out and took and awkward step backwards, but caught her none-the-less. He put an uneasy arm around her and patted her shoulder while glancing warily down the road.

"Hey, ah, we should probably get going... can you stand?" He gently pushed Hikari away when she nodded. Then he glanced at the (still unconscious) Li Aki. "We might need a hostage," he muttered with a sigh, gathering up Hikari's ropes and binding Aki's hands and feet.

Hikari stared wide-eyed at the visitor as he bound Aki. Even in his faint Aki's lips continued moving, mouthing various charms and prayers to drive off the demons. As the visitor pulled one of Aki's arms behind his back his eyes opened and he let out a loud, horrible scream. He tried to flail his arms, but the visitor threw all his weight on him, grunting as Aki began to attempt to wriggle free. Suddenly, Aki grew still and began to hyperventilate once more, brown eyes wide with fear.

"Don't kill me... don't kill me... don't kill me..."

The visitor remained firmly on top of poor Aki, grunting. "Shut up..."

Aki wailed and began to chant once more.

"...shut up and let me tie you--"

Aki's chanting grew louder.

The visitor clamped a hand on Aki's mouth, before recoiling in pain after Aki, presumably, bit him. The visitor's face screwed up in pain, before he seized Aki's shoulders and banged him against the ground. "You little bitch!"

Cue hyperventilation.

"Augh!"

Yes, at long last, the visitor did what he should have done ages ago: punched Aki out.

Quickly, he finished binding his superstitious hostage and glanced back at Hikari, who was standing, one hand against the tree for balance, watching both with wide, terrified eyes. The visitor's pale face was flushed from the fight, his dark hair clung to his face in small clumps. Aki, on the other hand, was dusty and somewhat bruised around the face, and somehow seemed to still be muttering chants despite his knocked-out status. Rubbing her raw wrist ruefully she slowly stepped backwards, following the curve of the tree, as the visitor hoisted Aki up on his shoulder, grunting under the weight.

Just when Hikari thought she had escaped the visitor's sight and memory, he turned to her, arching one midnight brow. "Well, come on."

She jumped. "Come?"

"Yes." Flinching, he glanced down the road. "Hurry, hurry." He walked up to the tree. "Can you climb?"

"...climb?" She stared up into its leafy depths. It was a long way up. Which meant a long way down once she reached the top.

"Climb. I need to pull him up." He glanced over his shoulder quickly. "Hurry, hurry..."

Hikari put one hand on the tree. The tree seemed to grow taller and taller the more she looked at it.

"Look, do you want them to get you?" Hikari looked undecided. "Again?!"

She looked up at the tree again. "Too high..."

"I'll give you a boost." He set Aki down. "Come on."

Cautiously, she put a foot on his laced-together hands, and found herself thrust up towards a limb. She grabbed onto it, the bark digging into her hands, dirt small fragments clinging to her shirt, and pulled herself up onto the limb. Leaves surrounded and enveloped her, cool and green.

"Take him..." The visitor held up Aki's limp form. 

Hikari shook her head. She was too high up, she'd fall.

"Then just hold him up," he said, glancing down the road in a paranoid fashion. He stood on a rock and held Aki up again and Hikari swallowed her stomach and wrapped her legs around the branch and slid her arms under Aki's arms. She shut her eyes. The world shook and vibrated... she was going to fall...

She opened her eyes again when she felt Aki moving. The visitor had joined her on the branch and was pulling him up.

"Come on. I swept up the ground. We need to keep going up."

Hikari gulped. Up?

"Yes. Come on."

Her eyes wound up in terror as he helped her up to a higher limb, Aki in tow.

.

Miaka's head swam. Hikari? In the book? It had to be a dream... nothing but a dream... She stirred slightly, and immediately recognized the soft, warm scent of Taka's arms around her, holding her and soothing her. He had a gentle hand on her cheek, patting her into wakefulness.

"Miaka..."

She batted away his hand. Why'd he have to wake her? "Taka... no..."

"Miaka." He seized her hand. "I'm sorry..."

"Mmh... lemme sleep..."

"Miaka, I called Tetsuya and Yui... they'll be here in a little bit."

"Why...?" She nuzzled her face into his chest.

"Miaka, Hikari --"

"...I had a funny dream about her..." Miaka giggled. "She went into the book... and... mmh... lemme sleep..."

Taka held her chin and forced her face away from him. "Miaka, it wasn't a dream."

"Mmh... silly... it's a dream... I hid the book with my panties." Yes, it was a rather crude place to put the book. But Hikari would always toy with it when it was on display with the photo of the Seishi. Besides, "She'd never dare --"

"Panties?!"

"Yes, Taka, panties. What I wear. You've --" Suddenly, she realized, that voice sounded far too young to be her husband, and his voice, by no means, cracked. She opened her eyes and saw an extremely red Jun rocking on his heels, attempting to wipe his hands off on his pants. Clumsily he fell over in his attempt to cleans himself and lay half prostrate attempting to scrub his hands clean. "Jun?"

"Miaka, Hikari's in the --"

No, no, no, no. It was only a dream. Change the subject! Change the subject -- "Jun, what were you doing in my panties?!"

Jun's blush deepened to an impossibly dark crimson. "I... I... I... w-wasn't! Hi-hikari! Sh-sh-she--"

"Miaka!" Taka grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him and shook her. "Hikari is in the book!"

No, no, no. Miaka laughed. "Taka, don't be silly!"

He stopped and stared at her. "Miaka..."

No, no, no. "It wasn't a...?"

"No." He held her close.

Miaka shut her eyes. Why couldn't she go back to sleep? Why couldn't it be a dream? A beautiful dream... a horrible dream...

.

Hikari couldn't remember when she had passed out, and had assumed everything had been a dream until a soft voice began calling to her. "Wake up, wake up."

Jun? But what was he doing here? Mama never let him in her room. After all, she was in bed. But there was something strange about her bed. Was it... itchy?

"Hey, wake up..." the soft voice continued. It sounded a little bit like Jun, but not quite. Slightly higher? Softer?

"Un... Jun...? she murmured softly, cracking one eye open. Her eyes met darkness... and then... the faint shape of the raven-haired boy from earlier leaning over her, concern plain on his face.

"It's morning..."

"Morning?" Hikari moaned and rolled over, burying her face in... hay? "Mmh... I didn't know I could sleep in dreams..." Her head began to throb again. "I didn't know I could hurt in them..." She cracked open an eye and glared at the boy. "Did you?"

He set a cup down within eyeshot. "It'll help clear your head." Then he stood and moved out of Hikari's line of vision.

She moaned again and rolled onto her back again, staring at the ceiling. They were in a cave... the roof was tinted lightly blue from the morning sun barely peeking in from a small hole in the roof, The cave was rather small and dank, and the boy was off to one side, inspecting a bruise he left on Li Aki who was (thankfully) gagged and fast asleep. Sitting up, she reached out for the cup, and after some awkward, lazy swipes at it she took it and examined the dark liquid within. It was warm. She sniffed it. Tea? She sipped it cautiously. Bitter. She scrunched up her face in displeasure.

"I'm not drinking this."

The boy turned to glare at her. "You should."

"Who are you?"

"I told you last night."

"...last night?"

"Mido."

"Mido?"

"Yes. Drink your tea."

"No."

"Come on..."

"No."

"Ugh. Just drink it." Mido turned back to Aki with a huff.

The tea was thick and strange. Hikari poked at it with a finger. It... sproinged.

"Just drink it already."

"No." Hikari dropped it and plopped back down into bed. "This is a weird dream..."

"Dream?"

"Yeah... I climbed up a tree and I didn't die... and I got hit on the head with a frying pan... and we snuck around with a dead guy... and my head doesn't hurt in dreams..." Hikari picked at her sweater. How did she get pieces of bark stuck in it? Mama'll kill her...

"It wasn't..."

****

Author's Notes II: I'll be going on vacation to LA, leaving Tuesday night... I cranked this out fast and roughly so I could put it up before leaving, and if I do the same with chapter 3 and at the same speed, I could possibly have it up before leaving. Unless I've driven you all away (understandable). And, since my notes are lost and I'm winging it, where would you like to see this story go? ^~ I have the basic idea set in stone, but hey... let's be lost together. :D 

Oh, and I 3 Aki. He's such a spaz. And the reason for there being only three guards is linked to overconfidence and the fact that those three were the only ones who were well enough to guard. Shall be explained next chapter.


End file.
